Present high performance magnetic recording media typically have area densities of 130 to 150 Mb/in.sup.2 and coercivities (H.sub.c) of 1400 to 1600 Oe. Average grain sizes of these recording media, which are often Co-based, vary from 20-45 nm with larger grain size associated with higher coercivity.
Recent developments in the art have produced magnetic recording media with areal densities of 1 to 2 Gb/in.sup.2. For example, media consisting of CoPtCr have been demonstrated with areal densities of between 0.96 and 1.18 Gb/in.sup.2. A 2 Gb/in.sup.2 media consisting of two layers of differing alloy constitutions has also been developed. The bottom magnetic layer of this media is CoCrPtSi, a low noise, low coercivity film, whereas the top layer is CoCrPt, a high coercivity, high noise film. When combined, the layers produce a recording media with low noise and high coercivity. These 1 to 2 Gb/in.sup.2 media typically have coercivities of 1600 to 2120 Oe and average grain sizes of approximately 15 to 20 nm.
Because of the demand to store increasing amounts of information in a practical disk drive, the development of an ultra-high density magnetic recording media with an areal density in the range of 10 Gb/in.sup.2 is desirable. However, continued evolutionary improvements in present media technologies will probably not be adequate to support the development of such ultra-high density media. Present media technologies cannot simultaneously provide the increasingly higher coercivities, thinner films, smaller grains and lower media noise necessary. Thus, for ultra-high density recording media to become a feasible technology, new materials must be developed that have coercivities in excess of 3000 Oe with extremely fine grain sizes.
Therefore, it is an object of the present invention to provide an ultra-high density magnetic recording media with an areal density in the range of 10 Gb/in.sup.2, high coercivity (H.sub.c &gt;3000 Oe), and extremely fine grain size.